Congress

Leading the fight for farm welfare

Filed under: Congress

Today's Wall Street Journal has a fascinating deconstruction of how the farm lobby beat back attempts to curtail agriculture subsidies. Farmers will collect some $13 billion in federal subsidies this year. This despite the fact that farms, buoyed by the ethanol boom and soaring commodity prices, are projected to reap record income of $92.3 billion in 2008. Average farm household income is expected be about $90,000 this year. Currently farms with incomes of up to $2.5 million are elligible for federal funds.

Reform advocates, including President Bush, had hoped to strip out as much as $10 billion in subsidies over the next five years. But the most substantive changes were scuttled due to the persuasive powers of the farm lobby. The WSJ story notes that the agribusiness industry pumped $80 million into federal lobbying efforts last year alone.

"We got rolled," says Rep. Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican. ... "The agriculture community circled the wagons."

Leading the fight for the status quo? Rep. Colin Peterson, of Minnesota's 7th Congressional District, who also happens to be chairman of the House Agriculture Committee:

As the measure headed to the House floor in July, advocates of reform made a last-ditch bid for support, appealing to Speaker Pelosi. But the California Democrat sided with Mr. Peterson of the House Agriculture Committee. The year before, he'd ushered Mrs. Pelosi around a popular farm festival in Minnesota, where she mingled with farmers and ate pork chops on a stick.

Posted by Paul Demko at March 27, 2008 4:48 PM | Comments (0)

 

It's official: Senator Craig disgraced the senate

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The Senate ethics panel--a contradiction in terms if ever there was one--ruled that U.S. Senator Larry Craig's wide-stance bathroom antics and subsequent bizarre guilty plea take-back constituted "improper conduct which has reflected discreditably on the Senate."

Craig responds to the charges in a letter to the AP:

"While I am disappointed and strongly disagree with the conclusions reached by the Senate Ethics Committee, from the outset I have encouraged the committee to act in a timely fashion and they have done so. I will continue to serve the people of Idaho," he said.

Craig then added: "Hey there, you got any extra toilet paper in your stall?"

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at February 14, 2008 11:35 AM | Comments (0)

 

Franken beating Ciresi, Coleman in new poll

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Via DailyKos, Al Franken beats both his Democratic competition and the Republican incumbent in CSRA's new poll for Minnesota Public Radio:

Democratic Primary (MoE 4.5%)

Franken 42
Ciresi 18

General Election Matchups

Coleman (R) 40
Franken (D) 43.2

But before you Franken fans get too hopeful, Kos points out that the poll may be skewed:

In 2004, the Minnesota party ID breakdown was D-38, R-35, and I-27. For this poll, it's D-52, R-34, and I-14. Of course, after the last two years, Democratic identification is up, so that might have something to do with it. But just a cautionary note in what otherwise is a great result for Franken.

To which I can only add: Go Al! Grrr!

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at February 1, 2008 7:39 PM | Comments (8)

 

Compare and contrast: The Reichstag fire and 9/11

Filed under: Congress

Rep. Keith Ellison (Minnesota's 5th District) is taking flak from the Anti-Defamation League for controversial remarks he made earlier in the month. During a July 8 speech he gave to a group of atheists in Edina, Ellison compared the Bush administration's post-9/11 actions to the heavy-handed undertakings carried out by the Nazi government in the wake of the 1933 Reichstag fire—initiatives that fomented Adolf Hitler's rise to power.

"After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it and it put the leader of that country [Hitler] in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted," a July 8 Strib article quoted Ellison as saying.

So in a Tuesday press release, the Anti-Defamation League took Ellison to task and demanded that he retract his remarks. "[His] comments comparing the rise of Nazism in the aftermath of the burning of the Reichstag to the War on Terror in the aftermath of 9/11 is outrageous and offensive to all Americans," read the statement.

Strangely, the Anti-Defamation neglected to empirically demonstrate how the Reichstag fire differs from the 9/11 in their statement, so in the name of public service, we thought we'd pick up the slack and debunk Ellison's claim ourselves:

1) Hitler suspended many articles of the Weimar Constitution in order to gain power, whereas the Bush Administration is merely ignoring a few aspects of our own Constitution for our own protection.

2) In the wake of the Reichstag fire, the German government did away with habeas corpus so they could arrest enemies of the state without trial, whereas the Bush administration has done away with habeas corpus so they can detain terrrorists without trial. (Plus, we have no idea how many U.S. citizens have actually been detained. For all we know, the number could be less than four.)

3) The Reichstag Fire Decree allowed the German government to wiretap citizens' phones and read their snail mail, whereas our own government is able to wiretap our phones and read our e-mail.

4) Hitler enacted the above provisions as part of an intentionally misleading, Orwellian-titled government decree (the Order of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State), whereas the PATRIOT Act's name is merely derived from a coincidental acronym.

So there you have it. Rep. Ellison is obviously way off base here. Click here and tell him so.

Posted by Matt Snyders at July 19, 2007 3:31 PM | Comments (23)

 

Manufacturing the news: Ellison edition

Filed under: Congress

Of the many controversies that have afflicted Congressman-elect Keith Ellison, none is sillier--and more bogus--than this week's kerfuffle over Ellison's stated intention to take his oath of office on the Qur'an. As you probably know by now, the "debate" was ignited by Salem Radio Network host Dennis Prager. In his syndicated column, Prager (whose frothing can be heard in the Twin Cities at 1280-AM The Patriot) complained that Ellison's "act undermines American civilization." Implicit in all this, of course, was Prager's transparent plea for publicity. Come Friday morning, the Strib obligingly weighed in with a page one story that was... okay, not as dreadful as the headline, "Oath on the Qur'an: Provocation or act of faith?"

That the Newspaper of the Twin Cities deemed the story worthy of front page treatment--and framed it as if there was some legitimate debate to engage--speaks volumes. Still, given the paper's decision to accept such a "controversy" as news, it is unfortunate that its reporters couldn't be bothered to dig as deeply as the folks over at the website ThinkProgress, who exposed the utterly vapid nature of the controversy. Money quote:

Prager's column is based on one other glaring error: the swearing-in ceremony for the House of Representatives never includes a religious book. The Office of the House Clerk confirmed to ThinkProgress that the swearing-in ceremony consists only of the Members raising their right hands and swearing to uphold the Constitution. The Clerk spokesperson said neither the Christian Bible, nor any other religious text, had ever been used in an official capacity during the ceremony. (Occasionally, Members pose for symbolic photo-ops with their hand on a Bible).

With that in mind, might we suggest a more fitting alternate headline for the Strib's front page: "Oath on the Qur'an: Photo-op or just red meat for hapless culture warriors?"

Posted by Mike Mosedale at December 1, 2006 10:55 AM | Comments (5)

 

DeLay indicted

Filed under: Congress

Will the dominoes begin to fall? The AP's Larry Margasack details House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's indictment today on a single conspiracy count:

A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, forcing the House majority leader to temporarily relinquish his post....

GOP congressional officials said Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., will recommend that Rep. David Dreier of California step into those duties. Some of the duties may go to the GOP whip, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri. The Republican rank and file may meet as early as Wednesday night to act on Hastert's recommendation. The charge carries a potential two-year sentence, which forces DeLay to step down under House Republican rules.

Posted by Steve Perry at September 28, 2005 12:22 PM | Comments (0)

 

Trent Lott works through anger issues in new autobiography

Filed under: Congress

The Drudge Report has the scoop from subscription-only Roll Call about Mississippi Republican Sen. Trent Lott's new autobiography, Herding Cats (soon to be a major motion picture starring Meg Ryan and John Cusack). It seems Strom Thurmond's biggest fan is a bit miffed at Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and former Sen. Don Nickles for "helping mastermind" his fall from power in 2002. Lott also smacks around former FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh for being one of the unnamed 'Bush aides' that told the press Lott should step down. Forget the Washingtonienne's new book, sounds like Trent's the one dishing out the good stuff in DC.

Posted by Corey Anderson at August 15, 2005 11:31 AM | Comments (0)